I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communications. More particularly, the present invention pertains to methods and apparatus for performing forward-link scheduling in a wireless communication system.
II. Background
Traditionally, wireless communication systems were required to support a variety of services. One such communication system is a code division multiple access (CDMA) system which conforms to the “TIA/EIA/IS-95 Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System,” hereinafter referred to as IS-95. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, entitled “SPREAD SPECTRUM MULTIPLE ACCESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING SATELLITE OR TERRESTRIAL REPEATERS,” and U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING WAVEFORMS IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM,” both assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/382,438, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS USING A MULTI-CARRIER FORWARD LINK IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM,” each of which is incorporated by reference herein.
More recently, wireless systems such as the CDMA systems mentioned above have offered hybrid services, such as providing both wireless voice and data communications. To coordinate the implementation of such services, the International Telecommunications Union requested the submission of proposed standards for providing high-rate data and high-quality speech services over wireless communication channels. A preliminary proposal was issued by the Telecommunications Industry Association, entitled “The cdma2000 ITU-R RTT Candidate Submission,” incorporated by reference herein and hereafter referred to as cdma2000. Various methods for transmitting non-voice data over fundamental and supplemental channels are disclosed in cdma2000.
In a CDMA system, a user communicates with the network through one or more base stations. For example, a user on a remote station (RS) may communicate with a land-based data source, such as the Internet, by transmitting data to a base station (BS) via a wireless link. This link between the RS and the BS is commonly referred to as the “reverse link.” The BS receives the data and routes it through a base station controller (BSC) to the land-based data network. When data is transmitted from the BS to the RS, it is transmitted on the “forward link.” In CDMA IS-95 systems, the forward link (FL) and the reverse link (RL) are allocated to separate frequencies.
The remote station communicates with at least one base station during a communication. However, CDMA RSs are also capable of communicating with multiple BSs simultaneously, such as during soft handoff. Soft handoff is a process of establishing a new forward and reverse link with a new base station before breaking the old links with the previous base station. Soft handoff minimizes the probability of dropped calls, that is, where a call is inadvertently disconnected from the system. A method and apparatus for providing communications between an RS and more than one BS during the soft handoff process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,261, entitled “MOBILE ASSISTED SOFT HANDOFF IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM,” assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.
Given the growing demand for wireless data applications, the need for very efficient voice and data wireless communication systems has become increasingly significant. One method for transmitting data in code channel frames of fixed size is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,773, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE FORMATTING OF DATA FOR TRANSMISSION,” assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. In accordance with the IS-95 standard, non-voice data or voice data is partitioned into code channel frames that are 20 msec wide with data rates as high as 14.4 kbps.
A significant difference between voice services and data services is the fact that voice services have stringent fixed delay requirements. Typically, the overall one-way delay of voice services must be less than 100 msec. In contrast, selectively planned data service delays, even above 100 msec, can be used to optimize the efficiency of the communication system. For example, error correction coding techniques that require relatively long delays can be used with data service transmissions.
Some parameters that measure the quality and effectiveness of data transmissions are the transmission delay required for transferring a data packet, and the average throughput rate of the system. As explained above, a transmission delay does not have the same impact in data or “non-voice” communication as it does for a voice or “voice-data” communication. Still, delays cannot be ignored because they are an important metric for measuring the quality of the data communication system. The average throughput rate is reflective of the efficiency of the data transmission capability of the communication system.
Further, in a wireless communication system, capacity is maximized when the transmission energy for a signal is kept to a minimum value while satisfying the quality performance requirements for the signal. That is, the quality of transmitted voice-data or non-voice data cannot be significantly degraded when received. One measure of the quality of a received signal is the carrier-to-interference ratio (C/I) at the receiver. Thus, it is desirable to provide a transmission power control system that maintains a constant C/I at a receiver. Such a system is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,109 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Controlling Transmission Power in a CDMA Cellular Telephone System,” assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.
It is well known that in cellular systems the C/I of any given user is a function of the location of the RS within a coverage area. In order to maintain a given level of service, TDMA and FDMA systems resort to frequency reuse techniques, i.e. not all frequency channels and/or time slots are used in each base station. In a CDMA system, the same frequency channel allocation is reused in every cell of the system, thereby improving the overall efficiency. The C/I associated with an RS determines the information rate that can be supported on the forward link from the base station to the user's RS. An exemplary system for transmitting high rate digital data in a wireless communication system is disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 6,574,211, issued Jun. 3, 2003, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HIGHER RATE PACKET DATA TRANSMISSION,” assigned to the assignee of the present application and incorporated by reference herein.
Because the C/I associated with a RS determines the information rate that can be supported on the forward link, it is useful to know transmission information for each frequency channel used and historic C/I information. This information is commonly collected at the RS and messaged to the BS. But this messaging uses valuable system resources. What is needed is an invention that would eliminate such messaging requirements. Preferably, the BS transmission power levels on a first channel would be used to predict favorable slots for transmitting additional data on a second channel.
It is well known in the art that knowledge of a communication channel can be used to increase capacity in a CDMA system by transmitting mostly at times when channel conditions are good. See, e.g., S. W. Kim & A. Goldsmith, “Truncated Power Control in Code Division Multiple Access Communications,” Globecoin (1997); R. Knopp & P. Humblet, “Multiple-Accessing over Frequency-Selective Fading Channels,” PIMRC (1995); A. Goldsmith & P. Varaiya, “Increasing Spectral Efficiency Through Power Control,” ICC (1993). This technique is commonly referred to as “waterfilling.” An issue that arises in cellular or PCS CDMA systems is fairness in that users nearer to a given BS may be favored in a waterfilling approach. Accordingly, there is a tradeoff between total throughput and fairness among users.
An algorithm based on priority given just by the carrier-to-interference ratio (C/I) would always give all the of power to the user close to the BS with the best channel. This would maximize system throughput but be unfair to users that are far from the BS. One solution, recently introduced by D. Tse and entitled “Forward-Link Multiuser Diversity Through Rate Adaptation and Scheduling” (not yet published), attempts to compromise between throughput and fairness by including throughput monitoring that introduces fairness by raising the priority of users who do not transmit overly long. Nevertheless, a need exists in the art to provide an improved forward-link scheduling technique that compromises between fairness and system throughput and is suitable for multiple users.